How to ‘Be the change’ - panel discussion

The World Water Day 2023 campaign - set to run for the rest of this year - is all about how to be the change you want to see in the world by taking small, personal water actions that will help solve the global water and sanitation crisis

At the SDG Media Zone at the UN 2023 Water Conference, three leaders in the water and sanitation field gathered for a panel discussion on the changes individuals can make to complement the bigger institutional commitments being made by governments and other major players.

Kate Medlicott, Head of the Sanitation and Waste Management Team at the World Health Organization (WHO), proposed making simple changes at the domestic level, as well as breaking taboos around discussing sanitation and holding leaders to account for their action on water and sanitation.

Noémie Plumier, strategic partnership facilitator at the World Youth Parliament for Water, spoke about the importance of young water professionals, and young people in general, being involved and represented in water-related decision-making from the local to the global level.

Daniella Boström Couffe, Communications Manager at UN-Water, told the story of the hummingbird at the heart of the campaign and the overwhelming response from schoolchildren, who sent more than 8,000 origami birds to the Conference, each containing a handwritten promise to take water action.